Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a synchronizing signal generator and an electronic musical instrument equipped with such a signal generator. More particularly, the invention pertains to a synchronizing signal generator for generating synchronizing signals such as tempo clock signals in synchronism with the pulse signal generated through manual operation of a switch, and an electronic musical instrument for producing musical tones or sounds at a tempo synchronous with the synchronizing signals.
Musical performances in studios are usually recorded by the multiplex-recording method wherein a family of musical instruments is divided into several groups which are individually and sequentially recorded on a magnetic tape having a plurality of recording tracks with a tape recorder or the like, instead of recording at one time all of the musical instruments being played simultaneously. In the former method, a rhythm instrument is first played for recording on a particular one of the tracks on the magnetic tape and the remaining instruments are played at a tempo corresponding to the rhythm reproduced from the tape for recording sounds in sequence on the remaining tracks of the magnetic tape.
Another example of the recording of musical performances is that a musical instrument is played by the player while he is listening to rhythm sounds generated from an automatic rhythm generator based on a live performance or on a reproduction from the tape, and musical tones or sounds of the instrument are recorded on one of the tracks of the magnetic tape and musical sounds of other musical instruments are recorded on the remaining tracks of the magnetic tape. This method of musical sound recording however gives the listener an unagreeable mechanical feeling because the rhythm of the automatic rhythm generator is too accurate and punctual.
An approach to avoid the above disadvantage demands that the tempo of the automatic rhythm generator follows delicate variations in the tempo of playing the other instruments. To this end adjustments of the tempo of the automatic rhythm generator should be achieved mainly through manual operation of a knob of a tempo regulator, which operation is very difficult.
Furthermore, an automatic player has been proposed in which a musical tune or piece of music is programmed in a computer and musical sounds are delivered from a music synthesizer under control of the computer. Even when the musical sounds from the automatic player are recorded, great difficulty is experienced in bringing the tempo of the automatic player into agreement with the tempo of the other musical instruments as in the case with the automatic rhythm generator stated previously.